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The Cedar Rapids Museum
of Art is presenting a major exhibition, Grant Wood At 5 Turner Alley,
which will run from September 10 through December 4, 2005 and feature more
than 170 works of art. The exhibition is the most comprehensive Grant Wood
exhibition to date and reveals the relationship between
the paintings, murals and functional decorative arts works in wood and metal
created by the famous regionalist artist. The last major exhibition of work
by Grant Wood was organized by the Davenport Museum of Art in 1996.

Grant Wood At 5 Turner Alley
was organized to celebrate the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art's public opening
of Wood's historic Cedar Rapids studio, known as 5 Turner Alley, and the
museum's 100th anniversary. The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art exhibition features
works from the museum's extensive collection as well as major loans from
museums and private lenders across the country. (right: Grant Wood,
American Gothic, 1930, oil on beaverboard, 29 1/4 x 24 5/8 inches. Friends
of American Art Collection. All rights reserved by The Art Institute of
Chicago and VAGA, New York, NY, 1930.934)

Grant Wood At 5 Turner Alley
focuses on the most important decade of Wood's career -- the years 1924
to 1934 -- when he lived and worked at his studio in Cedar Rapids and produced
his most legendary works, including American Gothic, which will return
to the city where it was painted for the first time in more than sixty years.

In addition to Grant Wood's well-known paintings, visitors
will see pencil drawings, lithographs and book illustrations, as well as
a surprising selection of household objects and furnishings made of copper
and wood. The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art's own extensive collection of Wood's
work will serve as the foundation for Grant Wood At 5 Turner Alley.

The exhibition shows a rarely seen, but important element
of Wood's career with its inclusion of his decorative arts works. Some of
the works in the show have recently been conserved and will be on view for
the first time. "If you thought you knew Grant Wood before seeing this
exhibition you will be surprised," says Cedar Rapids Museum of Art
Executive Director Terry Pitts. Pitts says the exhibition demonstrates how
Grant Wood's early training and interest in the Arts and Crafts movement
influenced the rest of his artistic career.

After showing at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art the exhibit
will tour to the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery. The
Renwick Gallery will feature Grant
Wood's Studio: Birthplace of American Gothic, March
10 through July 16, 2006. The Renwick Gallery exhibition will include more
than 100 works of art selected from the comprehensive show, Grant Wood
At 5 Turner Alley, being held at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art.

Like the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, the Renwick Gallery
will present for the first time Grant Wood's lesser-known decorative arts
and design work along with his better-known paintings, drawings and prints.
The exhibition features works from the collection of the Cedar Rapids Museum
of Art, studio artifacts and heirlooms that inspired Wood's work, as well
as significant loans from other museums and private collections that rarely
travel. Together these works help to recreate Wood's studio and demonstrate
the importance of craft in the development of the artist's work. (left:
graphic for Mr. Wood Goes to Washington. Courtesy Cedar Rapids Museum
of Art)

"We are thrilled at this opportunity for many more
Americans as well as international visitors to Washington to view and better
know Grant Wood and all he represented in his art," said Terence Pitts,
Executive Director of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. "The Smithsonian
American Art Museum is America's first federal art collection dedicated
to the enjoyment and understanding of American art. The museum celebrates
the extraordinary creativity of our country's artists, whose works are windows
on the American experience."

Pitts further comments, "Wood is the quintessential
painter of America in the 20th century, just as the Smithsonian is the quintessential
American museum. In the period between the World Wars, American artists
discovered their most important subject was America itself. No artist is
a better example of this than Grant Wood. Wood had a vision of the values
that made this country great and he poured this vision directly into the
pieces he created from 1928 to 1942."

"To have this Iowa artist's work displayed in a historic
architectural landmark across the street from the White House is something
the museum, the city of Cedar Rapids and all of Iowa can be proud of,"
he said.

The showing at the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick
Gallery will be the only other venue for this comprehensive
exhibition of Grant Wood's work. Along with the change of the exhibition
name, there will be small changes to the exhibition for its Smithsonian
debut. The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art exhibition will feature Wood's most
famous work, American Gothic,on loan from the Art Institute
of Chicago -- a central piece in the exhibition -- Midnight Ride of Paul
Revere, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Parson Weems' Fable,
from the Amon Carter Museum, Ft. Worth, Texas, among other significant loans
from across the country. New agreements are being negotiated to extend the
length of the loans to accommodate the travel of the exhibition. "Ideally,
all of the loaned works will be able to travel to Washington so Grant Wood's
important paintings may be seen afresh in the context of his roots in the
Arts and Crafts Movement," said Pitts. (right: Grant Wood next
to the unfinished painting, Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, at 5 Turner
Alley, 1931, Courtesy of Figge Art Museum, Grant Wood Archives. Photo: John
Barry)

In conjunction with the exhibition, a 140-page book will
be published with more than 100 color reproductions and four essays focusing
on Grant Wood's years at 5 Turner Alley by art publisher Prestel of Munich,
Germany. Titled "Grant Wood's Studio, Birthplace of American Gothic,"
it will demonstrate the strong relationship Wood had with the community.
Professors Wanda Corn, Stanford; James Dennis, University of Wisconsin;
Joni Kinsey, University of Iowa; and Jane Milosch, Curator, Renwick Gallery,
Smithsonian Institute contributed essays to the catalogue that further explores
and illustrates the artist's work.

American
Gothic, Present at the Creation from Morning Edition, November
18, 2002 with links also to "Centennial of Grant Wood's Birth"
(June 6, 1991) and "an interview with James Dennis, author of Grant
Wood: A Study in American Art and Culture". (February 13, 1976)

Amazon.com's feature that allows
people on the Web to read text inside books including

American Gothic: A Life of America's Most Famous Painting --
by Steven Biel

American Gothic : The Biography of Grant Wood's American Masterpiece
-- by Thomas Hoving

American Gothic -- by Michael Romke

To use this feature, search in "books," then enter title of
book. When book is selected go to "look inside" and read sample
pages of the book selected, which may include color images of the front
cover, front flap, table of contents, excerpt such as the introduction chapter,
alphabetical index, back flap and back cover. These books on American
Gothic also have a word search feature, which enables registered individuals
to search inside the books and pull up individual pages containing the selected
words. [Click here for more on Amazon.com's
project and other digitizing initiatives.]

Grant Wood's America: 29 minutes, 1986 from the PBS special
of the same name. "American Gothic is the painting that established
Grant Wood's reputation. The memorable portrait begins this documentary
about this well-known American artist. One can imagine that Wood, who possessed
a wry sense of humor, would appreciate the many parodies of his famous
image that have since been created. The film covers Wood's life and artistic
development, placing special emphasis on the growth of his distinctive
Regionalist style and his interest in American traditions." Quote
from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Visions of California: The Story of California Scene Painting,
produced by Paul Bockhorst for KOCE Public Television in collaboration
with The Irvine Museum, is the 1994 story of California Scene
Painting 1925-1950. Bockhorst, working with scores of collectors and dozens
of institutions and museums nationwide, has created a three-part series
of artistic delight and intellectual insight that features almost 150 works
of art.

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